Using CE on Laptop to simulate cellular networks

I need to simulate cellular networks in a lab environment. I would like to connect the cellphones via WiFi to a laptop running CE and then over the Internet to a remote server. I saw a note in the forum explaining that you cannot bridge over a WiFi connection. Can I use a USB to Ethernet adapter as a second NIC connected to a wireless access point?

Thank you for your reply. I need to use the proxy server because the traffic is encrypted with SSL. I should have mentioned that in my earlier question. I am planning on using the Charles proxy server. Could the proxy server and CE coexist on the laptop or would you recommend a separate computer for proxy server?

I am sorry that I did not give you all of the details in one post.

Thank you for the Wireshark tip. That will be helpful with some other tests I will be doing.